E-mail, Feeds, 'n' Stuff

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Recall 2.0 -- any day now

Supposedly, it starts tomorrow. Maybe they'll get the signatures, but unless something new breaks, they'll never get the votes. It will only make Mayor Creepy seem stronger. The opportunity for this was last summer -- too bad it was squandered.

Gridlock worked very well back in the mid-to-late 90s, and Oregon state government sure could use a heavy dose of it now. Since Reagan, one party rule has been disaster with big government Republicans or Democrats in charge supporting a brand of Crony capitalism.

The recall always needed 6 months. Now that we have another three months it will get done.

And maybe city council will actually strive a bit to be a more effective body, when they see that lover-boy is actually seriously unpopular, and Portlanders are paying attention.

I have to tell a funny story. So, we like classical music and we attended a concert last fall that featured Portland classical musicians and Sapporo musicians, playing together to celebrate the sister city relationship.

During a short speech, the director made a few acknowledgments, including thanking Mayor Sam Adams. You could have heard a pin drop in the Heathman concert hall during a short, uncomfortable silence.. Then she went on to thank the Japanese consul for his hospitality. The whole place erupted cheering.

One of the biggest mistakes the first recall campaign made was to cozy up to the likes of Victoria Taft and Lars Larson -- after swearing up and down that the campaign would not, repeat not, tolerate homophobes. Wurster apparently thought he could get away with this because very few progressives listen to these shows. What he didn't realize is that there are activists who *do* listen, and they pass the word along to their communities about what goes on. As a result, the campaign received no public support whatsoever from any progressive constituency leadership. (Having a KPAM station van parked at the "drive by signing" events couldn't have helped much either.)

This new campaign appears to have dropped all remaining pretense of being "progressive" in nature, employing a right-wing signature-gathering outfit with funding from high-profile conservative-leaning businesspeople, and leadership by a turncoat Democrat who endorsed Gordon Smith. I fail to see how that can be expected to help matters. Personally I dislike Adams, Leonard et al. but these people are worse.

Personally I dislike Adams, Leonard et al. but these people are worse.

So what?

These people aren't proposing anyone to replace Adams - they just want to get rid of him.

Was it wrong to make a (temporary) ally of Stalin in order to defeat Hitler?

(and no, adams isn't like hitler any more than Lars is like stalin)

When the recall is over, you can vote for whoever you want to fill the seat.

Hopefully Portlanders will do a better job next time, but I won't hold my breath.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Tre Arrow qualify for public funding and make it to a mayoral runoff from jail. Whatever the case, Sam Adams needs to go. If the next one stinks to high heaven then recall him/her too.

Pancho, if Sam Adams was murdering people by the thousands, then I could see joining with the likes of Lars Larson to stop him, OK? But we're talking here about a futile, basically symbolic mayoral recall attempt that doesn't even take itself seriously enough to offer a prospective replacement candidate. Under such anodyne circumstances, there's no way I'm going to help give the likes of Gordly, Mannix, Larson and Taft a political victory, symbolic or otherwise. Adams is by far the lesser evil compared to that bunch.

Road Work

Miles run year to date: 155
At this date last year: 241
Total run in 2015: 271
In 2014: 401
In 2013: 257
In 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269